Information for Graduate Student Instructors

Information for Graduate Student Instructors

Information for Graduate Student Instructors

  1. General Computing Information
  2. First Login
  3. Accounts
  4. Passwords
  5. Disk Quotas
  6. Software
  7. Printers
  8. Room Hours
  9. Class Data

General Computing Information

If your class is going to make use of the computer labs, please request the issuance of computing account forms (Google Form). Make sure that you are familiar with the information below.

The documentation contains rules regarding use of the instructional labs. Most of these rules are designed to encourage efficient use of the rooms. GSIs are expected to help enforce those rules and make sure their students aware of them. 

First Login

Upon first logging in, all students are required to input their names and e-mail addresses, change their passwords, and sign and return their individual account information sheets to the GSI or instructor of the class. The instructor should hold onto all returned and unissued forms for the entire semester in case students need assistance with their accounts.

There are currently two computer labs available to students in Statistics undergraduate classes, 342 and 432 Evans Hall. In either case, the login process is  exactly the same for undergraduate accounts.

The first time a student logs into his/her class account, the student will be asked by the welcome shell terminal program to enter his/her name, e-mail address, and home phone number. The phone number is optional, but the student's name and e-mail address are required; failure to provide this information will result in the account not being enabled. (This also applies to GSI accounts.) The student will also be asked to change the password during this initial login session.

Please review with students the procedures for logging into their accounts, including the restrictions on selecting new passwords, prior to handing out the class account forms. Also remind students to watch for error messages as they are going through the login procedure, and to remember that passwords are not displayed as they are entered. Encourage students to seek your assistance if they encounter anything that they do not understand.

Accounts

Your GSI account is the one whose login name corresponds directly to the course: for example, s20 for Statistics 20 or perhaps s20a if there is more than one section of Stat 20. Student accounts have names such as s133-12 or s20a-71. The GSI account and all corresponding student accounts are located in a directory called the class master directory. Your GSI account owns it. NOTE: the class master directory is the parent of the login directory of the GSI account. For example, if your login directory is /accounts/class/s20/s20, the class master directory is /accounts/class/s20. So, you have to type cd .. to change to it. You have to type cd to change back to your regular login directory.

  1. Shell Initialization

    Student and GSI accounts are set up to read the .login and .bashrc files in the class master directory. You can use this to establish aliases, cause certain programs to be run at login time, etc. Please be careful when making any changes to these files.

  2. Permission Settings

    All regular and student accounts on SCF Unix systems are created in such a way that their files are not accessible from other accounts (unless an account has special privileges such as the group master privileges mentioned above). However, your GSI account is an exception: It is created with public search (execute) permission. This allows students to access files in your GSI account if they know (or can guess) the filenames. See man chmod for more information on permission settings.

  3. Correcting Problems with Student Accounts

    The GSI for each class, and in the case of classes with multiple GSIs, the head (coordinating) GSI for that class, is responsible for evaluating and, when possible, resolving problems with the student accounts.

  4. Accessing Student Accounts

    The GSI for each class, and in the case of classes with multiple GSIs, the head (coordinating) GSI for that class, has the ability to access any student account in the class. Using the command tsu CLASS_ACCOUNT the GSI can enter the student's account as the student. The tsu command is useful for verifying problems reported by a student.

Passwords

If a student's username and/or password is not being accepted when attempting to login, the GSI must first verify that the student's username is correct. The student's username can be verified by issuing the command "finger STUDENT'S_LASTNAME". If the student's username is correct, the student probably has forgotten his/her password. A new password can only be issued to the student by the specific GSI for that student's class (head GSI for the class, if there are multiple GSIs). The GSI can only issue a new password to the student as follows. First, login to an SCF machine as the master user for that class, e.g., s199. Then run the command "passwd CLASS_ACCOUNT", e.g. "passwd s199-12". Provide the new password. For "LDAP Password" enter the password for the master user for the class, e.g. the password for the s199 account.

Disk Quotas

When a student has exceeded his/her disk quota he/she may begin to experience trouble with their desktop session. If the GSI is unable to resolve the student's problem by the above methods, the GSI should send the student to see an SCF staff member, and the student must specifically state to the staff member that he/she has been sent by the GSI.

Software

If you would like to have a specific software package available for your class, please send an email to consult@stat.Berkeley.EDU that includes the name of the software and its download location. Some packages are more time consuming to prepare than others so the more advanced notice we have of your needs, the more likely the software will become available to your students in a timely fashion.

Printers

Undergraduate classes have access to the printers in rooms 342 and 432. Students must pick up their printouts after sending their jobs to the printer. Any output that is not retrieved within 24 hours will be discarded. Please help by keeping the paper in the output trays orderly.

Room Hours

  • Undergraduate
    • 342 - M-F 8:00am to 5:00pm
    • 432 - M-F 9:30am to 5:00pm
  • Professional Masters
    • 491 - Card Key access

Off-hour and weekend access to the graduate student terminal rooms is available by key. GSI's can arrange for weekend access for undergraduate student use of room 432 by checking out a key from the SCF office. The GSI is then responsible for unlocking the room at the beginning of each day and locking the room at the end of the day. Room 432 must be locked after 5:00 pm at night.

Class Data

Specific directories can be created for the GSI to use for installing data sets and/or files which can be referenced by the students from the student's class account. Data sets should never be sent or copied to a student's account. For access to files that are needed for the current semester (both temporary and permanent files), the GSI should create a subdirectory called data in the GSI account and the SCF will install the proper links from the students' accounts to the GSI's data subdirectory. Files that are to be used only for this semester (temporary files) will reside in this subdirectory with links created to the permanent directory structure. An area is provided for installing data sets and/or files that are to be permanently retained from one semester to the next. The directory for the long term rentention of files is named by the class and is located under the directory /accounts/class/data. A short description should be entered in the file README for each file placed in the directory /accounts/class/data/. Please contact the SCF staff for assistance.

Class Software

Programs may be provided for your class as follows. Suppose your GSI account name is s131. Add the line

export PATH=~s131/bin:${PATH}

to the end of the .bashrc file in the class master directory. Of course, you should substitute the name of your own GSI account for the string s131 in this example.

After creating the bin directory in your GSI account, any programs you place in there can be executed by your students by typing the name of the program.

Temporary Disk Space

The /tmp directory on UNIX is for temporary storage of files (less than 24 hrs). Any information that is lost on /tmp is not recoverable (backed-up) and will be automatically deleted after 24 hours. If you need more long-term disk space (more than 24 hours) please send mail to manager stating your request.

Human Help

The computing staff will be happy to answer questions if students have addressed them to the GSI or instructor first; it is your responsibility to answer your students' questions. Either you or your students may mail questions you can't answer to the user consult.